I think Coronavirus is best thought of as a cancer.
It was easy to get under control in China. That was where it originated. It was centralized and easy to surgically target.
The spread to Europe and later the Americas was basically the virus metastasizing. Once something metastasizes, there is very little that can be done besides very heavy handed approaches that harm the surroundings as much as the thing you are trying to remove. That's basically lockdowns. And even when you make the largest effort you can manage, it is very often still not enough.
The reason island nations have been so successful is they by definition have strict borders, which means you can catch the virus before it has a chance to spread out to the point that you can never contain it again.
Coronavirus was beyond containment in the Western world by April.
Thankfully, we've learned that it's a much less deadly virus than initial impressions suggested.
It was easy to get under control in China. That was where it originated. It was centralized and easy to surgically target.
The spread to Europe and later the Americas was basically the virus metastasizing. Once something metastasizes, there is very little that can be done besides very heavy handed approaches that harm the surroundings as much as the thing you are trying to remove. That's basically lockdowns. And even when you make the largest effort you can manage, it is very often still not enough.
The reason island nations have been so successful is they by definition have strict borders, which means you can catch the virus before it has a chance to spread out to the point that you can never contain it again.
Coronavirus was beyond containment in the Western world by April.
Thankfully, we've learned that it's a much less deadly virus than initial impressions suggested.